"Numb's the word," says the almanac -- which is releasing its 2009 edition Tuesday . The almanac claims between 80 and 85 percent accuracy for its forecasts.

The almanac's editor, Peter Geiger, said the brutally cold forecast will force many households to grapple with high heating fuel prices. "This is going to be catastrophic for millions of people," he said.

The almanac is infamous for its unconventional weather-predicting techniques such as using sunspots, planetary movement and tides to predict the weather two years in advance.